PUTATIVE FATHER REGISTRY-SOME STATE LAWS
Alabama-§ 26-10C-1
This subsection shall be the exclusive procedure available for any person who claims to be the natural father of a child born out of wedlock on or after January 1, 1997, to entitle that person to notice of and the opportunity to contest any adoption proceeding filed and pending on or after January 1, 1997.
Alaska- §§ 18.50.165; 25.20.055
Arizona-§ 8-106.01(A)-(B)
A person who is seeking paternity, who wants to receive notice of adoption proceedings, and who is the father or claims to be the father of a child shall file notice of a claim of paternity and of his willingness and intent to support the child to the best of his ability with the State Registrar of Vital Statistics in the Department of Health Services.
Arkansas- § 20-18-702
Connecticut-§ 46b-172a
Delaware- tit. 13, §§ 8-401; 8-402; 8-405
…a man who desires to be notified of a proceeding for adoption of, or termination of parental rights regarding, a child that he may have fathered must register with the registry of paternity before the birth of the child or within 30 days after the birth of the child.
Florida- § 63.054
In order to preserve the right to notice and consent to an adoption under this chapter, an unmarried biological father must, as the ‘’registrant,’’ file a notarized claim of paternity form with the Florida Putative Father Registry.
Georgia- § 19-11-9(d)(1)
Registrants shall be informed that this registration may be used to establish an obligation to support the child or children and that this registration shall be used to provide notice of adoption proceedings or proceedings to terminate the rights of a biological father who is not a legal father but that registration without further action does not enable the registrant to prevent an adoption or termination by objecting of his rights
Hawaii- § 584-3.5
Idaho-§ 16-1513
Any father of a child born out of wedlock who fails to file and register his notice of the commencement of paternity proceedings prior to the child’s placement for adoption or prior to the date of commencement of any proceeding to terminate the parental rights of the birth mother, whichever event occurs first, is deemed to have waived and surrendered any right in relation to the child and shall be barred from thereafter bringing or maintaining any action to establish his paternity of the child.
Illinois- Ch. 750 § 50/12.1
Except as provided in Ch. 750, § 50/8(b) of (c), a putative father who fails to register with the Putative Father Registry is barred from thereafter bringing or maintaining any action to assert any interest in the child,
Except as provided in Ch. 750, § 50/8(b) or (c), failure to timely register with the Putative Father Registry shall:
• Be deemed to be a waiver and surrender of any right to notice of any hearing in any judicial proceeding for the adoption of the child, and the consent or surrender of that person to the adoption of the child is not required
• Constitute an abandonment of the child and shall be prima facie evidence of sufficient grounds to support termination of such father’s parental rights
Indiana- §§ 31-19-5-2; 31-19-5-3; 31-19-5-5
… the putative father must register under this chapter to entitle him to notice of the child’s adoption.
Iowa- § 144.12A
Minnesota-§ 259.52
The Commissioner of Health shall establish a fathers’ adoption registry for the purpose of determining the identity and location of a putative father interested in a minor child who is, or is expected to be, the subject of an adoption proceeding, in order to provide notice of the adoption proceeding to the putative father who is not otherwise entitled to notice.
Missouri- § 192.016
Any person who has filed a notice of intent to claim paternity of the child with the registry before or after the birth of a child out of wedlock
Lack of knowledge of the pregnancy does not excuse the failure to file a claim of paternity in a timely manner pursuant to § 453.030. Failure to file in a timely manner shall result in the forfeiture of a man’s right to withhold consent to an adoption proceeding unless:
• The person was led to believe through the mother’s misrepresentation or fraud that:» The mother was not pregnant, when in fact she was.» The pregnancy was terminated, when in fact the baby was born.» After the birth, the child died, when in fact the child is alive.
Montana-§§ 42-2-202; 42-2-203; 42-2-204
A person who engages in sexual relations with a member of the opposite sex is presumed to know that a pregnancy could result.
The purpose of the putative father registry is to provide notice of termination of parental rights to a putative father who asserts a parental interest in a child so that the putative father may appear in a proceeding and have an opportunity to establish that the putative father’s inchoate rights in the child have vested because a substantial relationship with the child has been established as provided in § 42-2-610.
Nebraska- § 43-104.01
New Hampshire-§ 170-B:6
A person who claims to be the father and who has registered his claim of paternity with the Office of Child Support Services in what shall be known as the New Hampshire Putative Father Registry or in the putative father registry of the State where the child was born shall be given notice by the court of an adoption and shall have the right to request a hearing to prove paternity.
New York- Soc. Serv. Law § 372-c
The department shall establish a putative father registry that shall record the names and addresses of:
• Any person adjudicated by a court of this State to be the father of a child born out of wedlock
• Any person who has filed with the registry, before or after the birth of a child out of wedlock, a notice of intent to claim paternity of the child
• Any person adjudicated by a court of another State or territory of the United States to be the father of an out-of-wedlock child, where a certified copy of the court order has been filed with the registry by such person or any other person
• Any person who has filed with the registry an instrument acknowledging paternity
An unrevoked notice of intent to claim paternity of a child may be introduced in evidence by any party, other than the person who filed such notice, in any proceeding in which such fact may be relevant.
Ohio- Rev. Code § 3107.062
The Department of Job and Family Services shall establish a putative father registry. A putative father may register before or not later than 30 days after the birth of the child.
Oklahoma- Stat. tit. 10, § 7506-1.1
The Department of Human Services shall establish a centralized paternity registry. The purpose of the registry is to:
• Protect the parental rights of a putative father who may wish to affirmatively assume responsibility for children he may have fathered
• Expedite adoptions of children whose biological fathers are unwilling to assume responsibility for their
Children by registering with the registry or otherwise acknowledging their children
Tennessee- § 36-2-318
Those persons contained on the registry shall be given notice by the petitioners in proceedings for the adoption of a child or for the termination of parental rights involving a child, and they shall be necessary parties to the proceedings.
Texas- Family Code §§ 160.401; 160.402
A man who desires to be notified of a proceeding for the adoption of or the termination of parental rights regarding a child that he may have fathered may register with the registry of paternity:
• Before the birth of the child
• Not later than the 31st day after the date of the birth of the child
Virginia- §§ 63.2-1249; 63.2-1250
A Putative Father Registry is hereby established in the Department of Social Services. A man who desires to be notified of a proceeding for adoption of, or termination of parental rights regarding, a child that he may have fathered shall register with the Putative Father Registry before the birth of the child or within 10 days after the birth.
Failure to register shall waive all rights of a man who is not an acknowledged, presumed, or adjudicated father to withhold consent to an adoption proceeding unless the man was led to believe through the birth mother’s fraud that the pregnancy was terminated or the mother miscarried when in fact the baby was born, or that the child died when in fact the child is alive.
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